Shohely Akhter: first female cricketer banned for corruption

Bangladesh's Shohely Akhter on Tuesday became the first woman cricketer to be banned by the ICC for corruption charges after she was found guilty of attempting to fix matches during the 2023 T20 World Cup. The 36-year-old was banned for five years. Shohely, who bowls off-spin and appeared in two ODIs and 13 T20 Internationals for Bangladesh, admitted breaching five provisions of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code during the tournament in South Africa. The charges were in relation to corrupt approaches made during the matches of the Women's T20 World Cup.

She was, however, not part of the Bangladesh squad for that tournament. Shohely last turned out for Bangladesh in 2022.

Shohely admitted the charges of breaching Articles 2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.4.4 and 2.4.7 of the Code and accepted the five-year ban, starting from February 10, 2025.

The ACU's investigation centred around Shohely's conversation on Facebook Messenger with a cricketer, identified by the ICC as 'Player A', on February 14, 2023.

During the investigation, the ACU found that Shohely, prior to the Bangladesh versus Australia match in the Women's T20 World Cup on February 14, contacted her friend and teammate via Facebook Messenger, in which she tried to persuade her to agree to carry out fixes in future Bangladesh matches.

According to the investigation, Shohely told the teammate that her 'cousin', who "bets on his phone", asked her whether she would get out hit wicket during the Australia match.

Shohely also told the said player that she would be paid 2 million Bangladesh Takas if she did the fix, and the money would come from winnings that her 'cousin' made from his bets.

As per the ICC investigation, the cricketer also told her teammate that her 'cousin' could pay her more if 2 million Takas was not enough, and promised her that full secrecy will be maintained, including deleting her messages "so they no longer existed".

The player who was approached, however, not only rejected the offers but also reported the matter to the ACU immediately, providing all the voice notes from Shohely, who had deleted those files on her devices.